The Chairman of National Population Commission (NPC), Chief Samu’ila Makama, has announced that he and 20 other NPC workers have completed their tenure in accordance with the laws that set up NPC.
Makama made this statement at the valedictory press briefing held in his honour in Abuja on Wednesday.
“Our fulfilment stems from the fact that we have successfully executed the mandate given to us at our inauguration.
“The mandate called on us to advice Mr President on population/demographic data in the country through conduct of census and service.”
Makama and his team have been at the helm of NPC since Oct. 30 2001, and according to the 1999 constitution, their tenure should end on the 30 of this month.
Makama said the first challenge his team had was to conduct a census which was something that had not been done since 1991.
“It was a huge and challenging assignment carrying out a head count of Africa’s most populous and complex society.
“With unrelenting zeal, we weathered the storm and successfully conducted the census, aptly described as the biggest peacetime effort in terms of mobilisation of people and materials, second only to war.”
Makama said there other challenges and achievements of his tenure, admitting that things were not always perfect.
He said that NPC was grossly under funded and that it was only advocacy and partitioning that made the success of the 2006 census possible.
He thanked several national and international organisations which supported NPC through funding and other means.
The out-going chairman said that many surveys conducted were relevant to the growth and development of Nigeria as a nation.
The surveys, which were carried out in the last 10 years, Makama said, included the Nigerian Malaria Indicator Survey, Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey and National Population and Housing Census.
Others were Nigeria Education Data Survey and Internal Migration Survey, Evaluation of Community Response to HIV and AIDS in Nigeria and the Nigerian Urban Reproduction Health Initiative (NURHI).
He remembered nine of his colleagues who had passed on for their contributions to the successes of NPC.
Makama said that staff progression was stagnated when his team arrived at the commission, pointing out that 6,012 people have been promoted while 350 workers acquired new skills since he became chairman.
He said that he would have liked to give his valediction from the NPC headquarter building in Mabushi, which has yet to be completed due to under funding.
He also said that though the Vital Registration Programme had grown to 2,733 registration centres, with a minimum of three centres per local government area, the 40 per cent coverage achieved was lower than what he hoped for.
“We are consoled by the fact that nation building, just like institution building, is handed down from generation to generation and we are convinced that our place in the history of the Commission will remain indelible.”
Makama said his team were privileged to have had 10 good years and so it was time to give others a chance.
He called on all NPC employees to not forget what they learnt from his stewardship and to apply that knowledge to their future work.